William s



(ModeL) W. S. SMOOT. Magazine Fire Arm. No. 230,670.

Patented Aug. 3,1880.

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WIT/288888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFEicE...

WILLIAM S. SMOOT, OF ILIQN, NINV YORK.

MAGAZINE FlRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,670, dated August3, 1880.

Application filed May 30, 1580. (Model.)

To all whom. it may concern Be it. known that I, \VILLIAM S. Suoo'r, ofIlion, in the county of lrlerkimeraml State of New York, have inventedcertain Improvements in l\'lagazineGuns, of which the following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to certain improvements upon theniagaziue'gun for which a patent was granted to John W. Keene, March 20,1877, No. 188,468; and the invention relates to the mechanism whichregulates or controls the feeding of the cartridges from the magazine tothe chamber of the gun, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of that portion of the arm whichcontains the breech inechanisn'i; Fig. 8, a vertical longitudinalsection of the same. Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse vertical sections onthe line .1.- .c of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a sectional view taken on the line1/ g of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 a perspective view of the escapement detached;-aud Figs. 8 and 9 represent a modification of the stop for shut tingoff the flow of cartridges from the magazine.

1n the drawings, A indicates the frame or receiver, B the breech-bolt,and G the carrier, the generz'il arrangement of these parts being thesame as in the patent l'iereinbei'bre mentioned.

The carrier 0 has a spring, 1), arranged to press against its arm m, asshown in Fig. 3, for the purpose of controlling or holding it down afterthe breech is closed, the carrier being operated in both directionspositively by the movement of the sliding breech-bolt B.

The escapen'ient, which controls the escape of the cartridges from themagazine F onto the carrier (3, is shown detached in Fig. 7, and isprovided with the two lips a. and b, thesame as in the patent referredto; but instead of having a spiral spriu g under its lower end to forceit upward it is operated by a positive motion in both (1 irectious, asfollows A sprin gplate, G, is pivoted by a pin, a, at its front end tothe side of the receiver A, and held in place by a screw, H, passingthrough a slot, 9, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the screw serving toregulate the tension or pressure of the sprin plate G. This spring-plateG rests between two shoulders, h, on the outer face of the escapement E,so that as it moves up and down it carries the escapement with it. Atits rear end the plate G- is provided with a pin, (1,

which projects inwardly through a slot, 0, in the wall of the receiverA, and engages in a notch, 1, cut in the side of the carrier 0, as shownin Fig. 3, by which means, as the carrier is elevated by the bolt B, therear end of the plate G is raised, and it in turn elevates thecscapemcnt.

It will be observed that the plate G is provided near its front end withtwo laterallyprojecting arms, which bear upon the escapement ncaritsupper and lower ends, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and as these arms alsoact as springs, the result is that the escapcment 1*) is permitted to bemovedoutward or sidewise at either end whenever force is applied to itfor that purpose.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the front end of the bolt B is cut awayslightly in such amauner as to form a shoulder, k, which is so locatedthat when the bolt .3 is turned from the position shown in Fig.5 to theposition shown in Fig. 4 to unlock it the shoulder I. engages or strikesupon the upper end of the escapement E, and as the bolt is turned shovesthe escapement down, the escapement E, by its shoulder h, at the sametime throwing down the rear end of the spring-plate (-r to the positionshown in Fig. 2, the carrier 0 at such time being down, and thereforenot interfer' ing with the movement of the plate G.

The operation of the parts would then be as follows: Supposing the boltB to be withdrawn, as represented in Fig. 3, the carrier 0 would beelevated, thereby raising the cartridge that would be upon it, (andwhich is shown in dotted lines,) so that it would enter the chamber ofthe barrel. As the bolt is shoved forward the cartridge would be pushedinto the chamber, the carrier at the same time being forced down, and asthe front end of the bolt comes in contact with the beveled inner faceof the escapeinent the upper end of the latter would be shoved outwardto the position shown in Fig. 4, the lip I) at its lower end thenserving to hold the cartridge K, as shown in Fi As the bolt B is turnedto lock it fast, as shown in Fig. 5, the cut-away portion J permits theupper end of the escapement E to swing inward, as shown in said Fig. 5,so that as the bolt is turned to unlock it the shoulder is ofthe boltwill bear upon the upper end of the escapeinent E, thereby shoving itdown, and by depressing the lip 1) permit the cartridge resting againstsaid lip to escape onto the carrier (J, the next cartridge in themagazine at the same time coming to a rest against the lip a. This samemovement, as previously explained, throws down the rear end of thespring-plate G, so that as the carrier is again thrown up by the bolt Bthe'plate is carried up with it, thereby also raising the cscapemeut,which permits the cartridge to escape from the lip a and come to restagainst the lip b.

It will therefore be seen that, no matter how many times the bolt 13maybe locked and unlocked, or even partially witlujlrawn, but a si tiglecartridge can escape from the magazine, whereas in the gun asrepresented in the patent bct'ore mentioned the escapement was sooperated as to release a cartridge each time the bolt was locked andunlocked, whereby a second cartridge was not unfrequently allowed topass into the receiver when there was already one there; or, if thecarrier was raised, the second cartridge would pass out of themagazineunderneath the carrier, thus preventing it from operating; or,if the bottom of the receiver was open, the cartridge that thus passedunder the carrier would fall to the gro u n d.

My improvement not only prevents this, but the escapement, beingoperated positively in both directions, is less liable to get out oforder.

I have shown the carrier (1 held up by a spring catch, a, locking over apin, 1), as represented in Fig. 3, the catch being released by the boltBas the latter is shoved forward; but I do not claim, this device as myinvention; and, so far as my improvements are concerned, any equivalentdevice may be used for this purpose.

For the purpose of cutting off the flow of cartridges from the magazinea pivoted lover, I, may be used, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, ithaving a beveled point or nose, i, which enters a hole, a", in theescapement E, thus drawing its upper end outward, as represented in Fig.4, so that the escapement will not be acted upon by the shoulder is ofthe bolt P. \Vhile in this position the escapemcnt remains stationary,and therefore prevents the escape of the cartridges from the magazine,in which case the gun can be used as a singleloader.

In Figs. 8 and 9 I have shown another plan for cutting off the How ofthe cartridges from the magazine, which may be substituted for theabove. ln this case the notch t in the side of the carrier 0 is made toextend entirely across the side of the carrier, as shown in Fig. 8, andon the underside of the carrier I arrange a slide or button, (4 in sucha manner that it can be made to close the bottom or lower end of thenotch or slot t or shoved back and leave the notch open. at will. Whenthen otch is thus left open it will be seen that the carrier 0 can playup and down freely without operating the plate G, and that consequentlythe escapcment E will remain sta- .tionary, the same as when the le"er Iis used.

Instead of the button or slide a any other form of device may be used,it only beingneoessary to close or open the slot t to make it operate,as described.

It will be understood that the magazine will be loaded by inserting thecartridges into its rear end through the receiver, although, of course,it maybe arranged to be loaded at the opposite end if desired.

It will be observed that, in order to obtain room for the escapement E,the front portion of the receiver extends some distance back of the endof the barrel, as shown in Fig. 3, and that the front end of thebreech-bolt when closed enters this closed portion of the receiver acorresponding distance, and that consequently the head of the cartridgewhen tired is held between the rear end of the barrel and the front endof the bolt within this portion of the receiver, which thus entirelysurrounds the head of the shell. 1f the head of the shell should burstwhile thus held, as is liable to happen, the gas would be driven outbaclnvard around the bolt, therebyendangering the eyesight of the personusing the arm; and to prevent this I make a hole, '0, through the wallof the receiver at a point opposite the head or flange of the shell. asshown in Fig. 3. As there is more or less space all around the flange ofthe shell, and the breech-bolt is made to till the space in the receiverin rear of the head of the shell, it follows that any escaping vgas willreadily pass out through the opening 7:, and thus all danger from thatsource is avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The combinationof the escapement E, spring-plz'i-te G, provided with the pin (1, carrier O, and bolt B, provided with the lip It, all arranged to operatesubstantially as described.

2. The detent h], arranged to slide to and fro vertically and have itsupper end swing lz'iterally, in combination with the spring-plate G- andthe lover I, all arranged to operate as described, for cutting otf theflow of cartridges from the magazine, as set forth.

3. ln con'ibination with the escapeinent E, the spring-plate G, providedwith the arms ff, arranged to operate substantially as described,whereby the escapenient is allowed to move laterally as well asvertically, as set forth.

4. The combination of the reciprocating escapement E, operatedpositively in opposite directions by means of the breech-boltand thecarrier, with spring Gr, arranged to retain the escapement in positionvertically while allowing it to yield laterally in loading the magazine.

WILLIAM S. SMOOT.

Witnesses:

H. H. BENEDICT, W. 0. DODGE.

IIS

